Hip surgery dangers highlighted

Patients are four times more likely to die after hip fracture surgery in some hospitals than others, according to new figures just released.

And patients are 60% more likely to die if they are made to wait longer than two days for surgery after being admitted to hospital with a broken hip.

The figures are published in a hospital consultants guide with the Times newspaper. They are based on data from April 1999 to March 2002.

The guide shows mortality rates for patients undergoing surgery for a broken hip at all English NHS Trusts and the percentage of patients who waited longer than two days for the operation.

The patients made to wait more than 48 hours for an operation on a broken hip more often die from an infection or pneumonia following surgery or heart failure or a stroke, according to the guide.

Most patients are frail and elderly and not in a fit state for the operation, it said. A major factor affecting survival chances is how quickly the hospital operates on the patient. The Royal College of Physicians recommends operations should be done within 24 hours.

Hospitals with high death rates had 22% of patients, on average,waiting for more than two days, while those with low death rates had only 14% waiting that long.

Weston Area Health NHS Trust, which serves Weston-super-Mare, has the lowest mortality rate for hip fracture surgery in the country, with only 14% of patients waiting longer than two days to be operated on.

"We tried to streamline how patients come in through A&E," she said. "There is a pretty rapid diagnosis - has this patient a broken hip or not? There's only one treatment if they have, so there is no point in them hanging around in A&E. They are straight up to the ward, so they are ready for the next trauma surgery list."